A restock input file should distinguish ordinary sales history from known business plans. Promotions, supplier changes and purchase commitments belong in the record, but they should not be disguised as observed sales.
Separate the inputs
- Keep the seller store and product identifiers consistent across files.
- Mark the periods when a product was unavailable or its offer was inactive.
- Record planned promotions with their status and the person who confirmed them.
- Add supplier lead times, preparation requirements, minimum orders and case packs from current confirmations.
- Keep an unresolved-question column for information still awaiting confirmation.
Amazon's restock guidance explains the inputs used by its recommendations. Treat an account suggestion as something to review against your records, rather than copying it into a purchase order without inspection.
Preserve the decision record
A person should record the proposed order quantity and the inputs they relied on. Keep the chosen quantity separate from a supplier's confirmation and from the units eventually received.
At the next review, compare the actual movements with the saved record. This helps identify a changed supplier commitment, a promotion that did not run or a reporting mismatch without rewriting the original decision after the event.